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Men who did nothing did not suit him. "Where do you mean me to go to?" asked Grettir. Thorsteinn told him to go South to his kinsmen, but to return to him if he found them of no use. Grettir did so. He went to Borgarfjord in the South to visit Grim the son of Thorhall, and stayed with him till the Thing was over. Grim sent him on to Skapti the Lawman at Hjalli.

"Too far on this luckless day, Atli, good at weapon-play, Brisk Illugi were from me; Such-like oft I shall not be As I was, when I must stand With the reins drawn through my hand By the unflinching losel Air. Maids weep when they know I fear." Thereafter Grettir went to the south from the Keel; and rode to Hjalli and found Skapti, and prayed for watch and ward from him.

"The faint heart of Hjalli may ye here behold, little like the proud heart of Hogni, for as much as it trembleth now, more by the half it trembled whenas it lay in the breast of him."

With guile the great one Would they beguile, On the wailing thrall Laid they hand unwares, And cut the heart From out of Hjalli, Laid it bleeding on trencher And bare it to Gunnar. "Here have I the heart Of Hjalli the trembler, Little like the heart Of Hogni the hardy: As much as it trembleth Laid on the trencher By the half more it trembled In the breast of him hidden."

"The mighty heart of Hogni, little like the faint heart of Hjalli, for little as it trembleth now, less it trembled whenas in his breast it lay!

Then spake a counsellor of King Atli, "Better rede I see thereto; take we the thrall Hjalli, and give respite to Hogni; for this thrall is made to die, since the longer he lives the less worth shall he be."

Then laughed Hogni When they cut the heart from him, From the crest-smith yet quick, Little thought he to quail. The hard acorn of thought From the high king they took, Laid it bleeding on trencher And bare it Gunnar. "Here have I the heart Of Hogni the hardy, Little like to the heart Of Hjalli the trembler.

Grettir saw that he had no strength against this man. Then he spoke a verse: "Illugi brave and Atli were far. Never again may such hap be mine! The bridle was torn away from my hand. Her tears will flow when I am afeared." After this Grettir left Kjol and went South to Hjalli where he asked Skapti for shelter.

Now so Grettir wrought that he went south to Burgfirth, to Grim Thorhallson, and dwelt there till over the Thing. Then Grim sent him on to Skapti the Lawman at Hjalli, and he went south by the lower heaths and stayed not till he came to Thorhall, son of Asgrim, son of Ellida-grim, and went little in the peopled lands.

Thormod's daughters were named Thorvor and Thorve; the former afterwards became the mother of Thorodd the Godi at Hjalli, Thorve of Thorstein the Godi the father of Bjarni the Wise. We now return to Thrand and Onund, who sailed back from the West to Norway. A strong wind blew in their favour, so that they arrived at the house of Ondott Crow before any one knew of their journey.